Degussa in the National Socialist Era

In spring 1998, the Management Board of the former Frankfurt Degussa AG commissioned the renowned American historian Peter Hayes to research the history of the company between 1933 and 1945 in an independent study. One of the reasons for commissioning Peter Hayes, Professor of Modern History and Holocaust Studies at the Northwestern University in Chicago, was his award-winning book about I.G. Farbenindustrie in the Third Reich ("Industry and Ideology. IG Farben in the Nazi Era", Cambridge University Press, 1987. New edition with a new foreword 2001).

Degussa contractually assured Professor Hayes that it would exert no influence on his research, would withhold no archive documents whatsoever and would allow all serious academics access to these once the work was completed. Professor Hayes retains copyright over his work. The book entitled “From Cooperation to Complicity. Degussa in the Third Reich” is not an official company publication but rather the result of research work carried out with complete academic independence by a renowned American historian.